I just read the ASUS laptop review. An incredibly indepth discussion as to the guts of the unit, and a good baseline for the units performance.
Reading the article, I began to wonder what I what is it that I, as a reader, am looking for in the Mobile Computing Guide. The last couple of articles have gotten me excited about the potential of the mobile/laptop market...and in potential I mean the ability to make the most of my investment.
I would love to own a desktop because:
o they are cheaper then laptops
o they have better components
o they are easily upgradable
o they have a bigger screen
I **own** a laptop because:
o it is portable
o it is a good compromise between performance, flexibility, and price
o did I mention it was portable?
In my mind, desktops are like a fixer-upper home...if the foundation is great (motherboard), then you can easily refurbish everything to fit your needs. A laptop is like a motorhome...it is a compromise of the dollars you are willing to spend for the conveniences that you need.
Casual campers purchase the small-cramped vehicles, much like entry-level-laptop users are looking for something cheap because they need something portable, though for only occasional ussage. At the other end of the extreme are snow-birds (people who travel out of the cold north country to spend months in warmer climates in the comfort of their 35-foot luxury motorhome) who spend more on their home-on-wheels then they do on their permanent residence. Much like professionals whose life depends upon the existance of their laptop.
There are a bundle of publications already doing latest -n- greatest portable hardware reviews. (Although it is tough to tell if these tests are valid...but as long as they run the same test all the time, then one can get a feel of performance comparison.) Does Tom's Hardware Guide want to do that? I would be interested, but only if Tom's Hardware Guide was able to develop testing methodologies which pushed the laptop vendors to improve their product line. Tell me where the industry standard testing are going wrong, and then start holding up all new laptops to this raised bar.
The ASUS article was interesting for seeing the inside of a laptop, but I don't know how useful this actually is. The article mentions that various components can be upgraded...but to what? I know that the mobile CPU upgrade article covers the CPU, but I still don't know where I can purchase any mobile CPUs! Seems that the laptop components are something that are not available on the direct market, only to OEMs. Anyone with a new laptop will not be breaking into the case since parts are hard to find, and it validates their warranty.
So, here is my challenge...take a survey of your laptop readers. Find the common ground of their equipment, and how often they replace a laptop. Are most of your readers using the latest laptop equipment, and replace it every year? Or are most of them on a 2-year old unit looking for ways to prolong their (very expensive) investment?
Part of the push that you can make is making Intel realize that there might be a market for their older mobile CPU technology at a higher speed. I love my laptop (a 4-year old IBM ThinkPad 770) and have only two complaints at the moment...CPU speed (233 MHz Pentium MMX), and weight (7+ lbs). Neither of which have annoyed me enough to dump my investment (laptop, extra battery, AC/DC converter, internal DVD drive, internal ZIP drive, and 2nd harddrive) for a new system. Only the 2nd harddrive would be reusable (and this is only if a new laptop could hold two harddrives like my current laptop can do), so I am mostly interested in finding ways to make my unit last longer.
Inform me where I can find upgradable components. Show me what performance gains I can get from the $$ spent. I would be more then willing to spend $300 if I could upgrade my CPU to 400MHz or more! It sure is better than spending $3000 for a new unit!
My two cents...
Mike Bendtsen
Reading the article, I began to wonder what I what is it that I, as a reader, am looking for in the Mobile Computing Guide. The last couple of articles have gotten me excited about the potential of the mobile/laptop market...and in potential I mean the ability to make the most of my investment.
I would love to own a desktop because:
o they are cheaper then laptops
o they have better components
o they are easily upgradable
o they have a bigger screen
I **own** a laptop because:
o it is portable
o it is a good compromise between performance, flexibility, and price
o did I mention it was portable?
In my mind, desktops are like a fixer-upper home...if the foundation is great (motherboard), then you can easily refurbish everything to fit your needs. A laptop is like a motorhome...it is a compromise of the dollars you are willing to spend for the conveniences that you need.
Casual campers purchase the small-cramped vehicles, much like entry-level-laptop users are looking for something cheap because they need something portable, though for only occasional ussage. At the other end of the extreme are snow-birds (people who travel out of the cold north country to spend months in warmer climates in the comfort of their 35-foot luxury motorhome) who spend more on their home-on-wheels then they do on their permanent residence. Much like professionals whose life depends upon the existance of their laptop.
There are a bundle of publications already doing latest -n- greatest portable hardware reviews. (Although it is tough to tell if these tests are valid...but as long as they run the same test all the time, then one can get a feel of performance comparison.) Does Tom's Hardware Guide want to do that? I would be interested, but only if Tom's Hardware Guide was able to develop testing methodologies which pushed the laptop vendors to improve their product line. Tell me where the industry standard testing are going wrong, and then start holding up all new laptops to this raised bar.
The ASUS article was interesting for seeing the inside of a laptop, but I don't know how useful this actually is. The article mentions that various components can be upgraded...but to what? I know that the mobile CPU upgrade article covers the CPU, but I still don't know where I can purchase any mobile CPUs! Seems that the laptop components are something that are not available on the direct market, only to OEMs. Anyone with a new laptop will not be breaking into the case since parts are hard to find, and it validates their warranty.
So, here is my challenge...take a survey of your laptop readers. Find the common ground of their equipment, and how often they replace a laptop. Are most of your readers using the latest laptop equipment, and replace it every year? Or are most of them on a 2-year old unit looking for ways to prolong their (very expensive) investment?
Part of the push that you can make is making Intel realize that there might be a market for their older mobile CPU technology at a higher speed. I love my laptop (a 4-year old IBM ThinkPad 770) and have only two complaints at the moment...CPU speed (233 MHz Pentium MMX), and weight (7+ lbs). Neither of which have annoyed me enough to dump my investment (laptop, extra battery, AC/DC converter, internal DVD drive, internal ZIP drive, and 2nd harddrive) for a new system. Only the 2nd harddrive would be reusable (and this is only if a new laptop could hold two harddrives like my current laptop can do), so I am mostly interested in finding ways to make my unit last longer.
Inform me where I can find upgradable components. Show me what performance gains I can get from the $$ spent. I would be more then willing to spend $300 if I could upgrade my CPU to 400MHz or more! It sure is better than spending $3000 for a new unit!
My two cents...
Mike Bendtsen